Dear Mama: Stoners aren’t Lazy
Dear Mama,
I love my weed. I like to eat it, smoke it, vape it, bathe in it and rub it on my sore joints. My friends aren’t on board and give me a hard time about it making me lazy and out of shape. I’m not lazy and I’m not out of shape. Not only could I out smoke them, I could probably out run them too. Can you give me some facts that I can use when they start this crap with me?
Thanks, Jill in Mesa
Dear Jill,
Seems to me that those haters need a spanking, but since you didn’t share the address of these uninformed folks you’re hanging out with, I’ll give you some info you can share and perhaps silence the haters. Or you could spank them and run, since we now know you can outrun them, but that’s going to be up to you if my facts don’t prove to be helpful.
Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) have been termed as performance-enhancing drugs. These substances can ease anxiety and increase pain threshold. This can assist one in pushing through a tough workout, or allow someone to focus more since they are less anxious and therefore more present.
Some people report that cannabis just makes them unmotivated and on top of that crave junk food. I have a lot of friends that crave junk food without cannabis. You can always point out certain things to people hating on your lifestyle choices; they might forget things, crave junk, or feel lazy sometimes, all without the weed.
An athlete who is performing new tasks or is involved with a complicated sport that involves fast decisions could find some issues with consuming any large amounts of cannabis prior to competing, where an endurance athlete might find benefits with the lowered pain threshold and increased ability to focus.
To be honest, I don’t exercise much. I bake as my full-time job and wrestling 50lb bags of sugar and flour is as close as I get to “exercise’. Running? Ya, that’ll be a hard pass. So I don’t have a personal story to share with you about how I finished a marathon thanks to the blunt I shared, right before the race, with the time keeper but I perform a good deal of physical activity at various levels of difficulty and I can tell you that performance and cannabis is all about the dosage.
Whether we are talking about running, yoga, meditation (or a complicated cake making day for me) if you consume the wrong strain or the wrong amount you’re gonna have problems. You can’t expect to perform your best if you smoke a big fat joint before attempting the ninja warrior obstacle course, but if you have a puff of a nice hybrid right before your yoga session you may find that the ability to check in with your own body comes easily and the class might be one of the best ever.
If you want to have some other good info about athletes using cannabis for wellness there are quite a few athletes trying to legalize cannabis for pro athletes. I’d google whatever sport your friends are interested in and see if they have a cannabis advocate who is also a pro in their favorite sport. Use that to school them. If you need to, you can always tell them Mama says so.
Best Wishes Stay Lifted Mama
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Laura Mastropietro, former cannabis co-op grower and patient advocate, consultant, Edible Chef for two edible lines, featured in ‘Cannabis Saved my Life’ by Elizabeth Limbach, currently curates a learning hub called PotofWellness.com, stays active in the cannabis community while running a restaurant and commercial bakery in beautiful Sedona Arizona. Wife, Mother, Grandmother, with a full beautiful life and toss in a life altering disease, cannabis is the magic that helps her keep it all going. Have a cannabis question? Send it to Dear Mama at potofwellness@gmail.com